Text: (731) 236-3623
FOR FREE PHONE CONSULTATION EMAIL OR TEXT TO ARRANGE A TIME
Big Ideas. Great Results.
SERVICES
Trauma Therapy and Traditional Therapy
TRAUMA THERAPY
Trauma is any terrifying, life threatening situation. But it is more than that. It is anything that is viewed as a serious threat to our safety and well being, including repetitive, long-term distress.
​
Such threats provoke a primal and primitive survival response in us deep within our minds to either fight or flee.
However, neither of those options work very well in most modern perceived threat situations. So our subconscious / unconscious mind becomes confused and upset, generating responses that include nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive memories, anxiety, depression, irritability, distrust, self-doubt, shame, and guilt. It has trouble "updating" and needs to update just like an app might need to update.
​
Talk therapy doesn't get to the survival mechanism of the brain very well. Talk therapy works on our thinking, logical mind (left) and triggered responses come from our emotional mind (right and deep center). This is why special techniques are necessary and successful in relieving those symptoms.
​
Such techniques include EMDR/ABS, RRT, EFT, and guided imagery. Sometimes these techniques seem a little odd. This is because they must operate in non-verbal ways on the deepest parts of ourselves. However, these techniques are well researched, have a strong neurological basis, and are effective.
​
Untreated trauma/distress stacks, like books. Soon, a traumatized, distressed person finds themselves lugging around a huge stack of "books" and begins to feel overwhelmed and demoralized.
In the last several years, research shows that trauma/distress affects us all the way down to the genetic level, impacting our immune system. Thus, untreated trauma and distress begins to manifest itself in PHYSICAL ailments including diabetes, heart disease, fibromyalgia, gastro-intestinal issues, and even cancer.
​
A huge, 30 year study (the ACEs - Adverse Childhood Experiences) study, shows substantially higher rates of serious illness for anyone with a score of 4 or higher on the ACEs scale of 10.
​
The old idea that all someone has to do is forget about what happened, suppress negative feelings, thoughts, and memories and "get over it", has been proven to be far from the truth.
​
The old idea that PTSD, trauma, and distress can't be treated and reduced to non-diagnoseable levels is also outdated. With proper psychotherapeutic techniques, these symptoms can be made to go away in a relatively painless and rapid fashion. So there is no need to carry these bad things that happened to you for the rest of your life.
TRADITIONALÂ THERAPY
All trauma therapists use talk therapy as well. The logical, thinking, conscious part of our mind (left) develops disordered patterns that support the person during the trauma, but are not helpful when the trauma is over. So a trauma therapist uses some talk therapy to get the logical part of our mind and the emotional part of our mind on the same page.
​
Talk therapy is also useful for all the little things that happen to us that cause emotional challenges, even if those things don't rise to the level of trauma. The therapist acts as a sounding board for rational thinking and helps clients institute behavioral changes that facilitate feelings of joy, happiness, contentment, and peace.
These little things can also stack up like books.... big stack of thin books. They aren't the "big thick books of trauma", but get enough of them and they can also make a person feel overwhelmed and miserable.
​
Trauma techniques can be useful for some of these "thin little books" especially where they are causing excessive anxiety. Guided imagery is also useful in conjunction with talk therapy for these smaller but pesky or troubling issues.
​
Many people think guided imagery is mindfulness, but it is not always mindfulness which is a calming technique but not a problem-solving technique. I have client's learn and use guided imagery to problem solve and to manage emotions for troublesome issues they are dealing with. In this way, guided imagery becomes a solution focused approach that can be very helpful.